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twelve couples i’ll always be in love with.

First of all, Happy Valentine’s Day!

I thought for a good five minutes about what I wanted to write about today. I usually do a post on contentment and singleness, but I think I’ve said all I need to on the subject. (See those posts here, here, and here – all of which, I realize after re-reading all of them, bemoan the infamous Valentine’s Day Banquet of ’13 – LOL. They’re actually pretty decent, too, so if you want to hear my thoughts on contentment, they’re worth a read.)

But today is not about being single. Today is about relationships. And if we’re not in relationships, we can at least obsess over those who are, right?

Today, I’ve decided to write about book and movie couples that are in love and that I am in love with (because that’s way less depressing than dwelling on how single I am, lol). (Just kidding; I’m actually totally content right now. So yay.)

These aren’t couples who are just cute together (because I could write about cute fictional couples for dayzzz). These are couples who have stuck together through thick and thin and love each other despite the trials they go through. They fight for their relationship and defy the odds. They may not have fallen in love at first sight, but their relationship lasted because of the circumstances that brought them together and kept them together.

In no particular order (cuz you guys should know by now that I hate picking favorites), here are the twelve fictional couples that have basically defined all of my relationship goals.

(And Clintasha would be right at the top but Joss woN’T STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIPS. GAH. *Hulks out*)

Shirtbert {Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe} | Anne of Green Gables

These two. GOSH, these two. Ever since they first met in Anne of Green Gables, I knew they’d fall in love. Except Anne was so blind to how much Gil loved her (and she was so deluded about what love really is) that it didn’t happen for a while. *shakes head* Silly Anne. I mean, the guy gave up his position at a school for her! He also saved her in a boat and NUMEROUS other amazing things. Together, they make such a great couple.

“Anne, you have tricked something out of that imagination of yours that you call romance. Have you forgotten how he gave up the Avonlea school for you so that you could stay here with me? He picked you up everyday in his carriage so that you could study your courses together. Don’t toss it away for some ridiculous ideal that doesn’t exist.”

Copanga {Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence} | Boy Meets World

OKAY. I’ve been a huge fan of Boy Meets World for about two and a half years now (although it seems like longer) and their relationship is just so. many. goals. They were friends for years and years before they got into an official relationship in the second season. Their relationship withstood high school, the first two years of college, three break-ups (not including Topanga’s parents’ divorce). Fourteen years later, in Girl Meets World, they’re still together and just as much in love as they were when they first started dating.

“Over half of all marriages fail. It’s even worse for people our age.”
“Every statistic that you throw at me is going to be about other people. I don’t care about other people – I care about you and me! If every marriage failed except one, I’d guarantee that one would be ours.”

Laurie x Jo {Theodore Lawrence and Josephine March} | Little Women

Okay, this is the only couple in this entire post who didn’t actually end up together. (Jo and I may agree on everything else, okay, and I’m sorry, but I’ll ship this ’til the day I die.) From the start, their friendship just screamed “ROMANCE!” and it seriously irked me that they didn’t end up together. Because they totally should have. They were so alike in so many ways, and they may have fought a lot, but what couple doesn’t?! Ugh. Anyway, I ship them like there’s no tomorrow.

“I have loved you since the moment I clapped eyes on you. What could be more reasonable than to marry you?” (THAT’S WHAT I SAID.)

Knighthouse {Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley} | Emma

Emma is my favorite Jane Austen story because the love interests shaped each other more than any other of her couples. (Did Darcy have the influence on Lizzie that Knightley did on Emma? NO. I rest my case.) I love stories that do this so. much. Why is a person in your life romantically if not to mold you into someone better? Food for thought. If ever a couple was destined to be together, it was Emma and Knightley. Even though he’s like seventeen years older than her.

“So, tell me, have I no chance of succeeding? My dearest Emma, for that is what you always have been and you always will be, my most beloved Emma. I cannot make speeches. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more, but you know what I am. I have lectured you and scolded you and you have born it as no other woman would have.”

(I also desperately love Cher and Josh from Clueless, and their relationship is defined so well and I love them and baby Paul Rudd is just the sweetest little cinnamon roll.)

These two couples are new additions to my stock of Relationship Goals, but I knew they had been added the first time I watched Julie and Julia. I love the distinction between the two relationships! Julie and Eric are blissful newlyweds, and Julia and Paul have been married for several years but they’re even more in love than when they first got married. When I first watched the movie, I told my sister, “Julie and Eric have what I want my newlywed married life to look like, and Julia and Paul have what I want my married-for-thirty-years married life to look like.” #goals

Er. mah. gursh. This is definitely the most tragic couple in my entire list. They loved each other so much and they didn’t end up together (not married, at least) and that just breaks my heart. Peggy loved Steve just based on his character, before he was the insanely muscular dude he is halfway through the movie, and if that’s not true love, I don’t know what is. As soon as Steve said his “I’m waiting for the right partner” line, I was hooked. (And so was Peggy.) If ever a couple deserved to be together, it’s Steve and Peggy.

“I’m gonna need a rain check on that dance.”“All right. A week next Saturday. At The Stork Club.”“You’ve got it.”“Eight o’clock on the dot. Don’t you dare be late. Understood?”“You know, I still don’t know how to dance.”“I’ll show you how. Just be there.”

When Anastasia and Dimitri first meet, they’re both really just using each other to accomplish their personal goals. It’s hate at first sight. When Anastasia and Dimitri have their first angered exchange (“Do you really think I’m royalty?” “You know I do!” “THEN STOP BOSSING ME AROUND.”) and Anastasia sticks her tongue out at him, I’m always just like, “Ohhhh, you two are gonna have it so bad.” And they do. They’re always slightly at odds, but in an endearing way. In the end, Dimitri sacrifices his ambition to find the lost Russian princess for Anastasia (who, spoiler, is the lost princess) and they end up eloping and it’s just beautiful.

“That, uh, that dress looks really good on you.”“Do you think so?”“Yeah. I mean, it looked nice on the hanger but it’s even better on you. Y-you, you should wear it!”“I am wearing it!”“Oh, oh yes, I was just, um, trying to give you a… a…”“Compliment?”“Yeah.”

I grew up with the 1932 version of Robin Hood (here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it), and I’ve always loved the relationship that Robin and Marian have. There’s just something about a classic tale of the love between a knight and his lady that I fall for every time. She’s hesitant at first, and he’s madly in love at first sight. He wins her love by being the dashing hero he is, and she falls for him. (And then, in the original tale, he dies. I like this version better – they ride off into the sunset and it’s wonderful.) It’s just a classic tale of love and I love it muchly.

“Tell me: when you are in love, is it hard to think of anybody but one person?”“Yes, indeed, m’lady, and sometimes it’s a bit of trouble sleeping.”“I know! But it’s a nice kind of not sleeping!”“Yes. And it affects your appetite, too. Not that I’ve noticed it’s done that to you, ‘cept when he was in the dungeon waiting to be hanged.”“And does it make you want to be with him all the time?”“Yes. And when he’s with you, your legs are as weak as water. Now, tell me, m’lady: when he looks at you, do you feel a kind of pricky feeling, like goosey pimples running all up and down your spine?”{Marian blushes}“Then there’s not a doubt of it!”“A doubt of what?”{Robin swings in through the window where he was eavesdropping} “That you’re in love!”

George x Mary {George Bailey and Mary Hatch} | It’s a Wonderful Life

I’ve been in love with George and Mary ever since I watched It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time (which was so many years ago that I can’t even remember when it was). We watch the movie every Christmas Eve and I’ve always loved watching George and Mary’s relationship start to build from their childhood to thirty years (and four kids) later. They’re still so in love and love each other so much despite all of the hardships they go through. Their trials bring them closer together and idk but that’s what I want more than anything else. #actualrelationshipgoals

“What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll give you the moon, Mary.”“I’ll take it. Then what?”“Well, then you can swallow it, and it’ll all dissolve, see… and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair… am I talking too much?”

M’KAY. The first time I read The Scarlet Pimpernel (and then binge-read most of the other Scarlet Pimpernel books), I knew I’d ship Percy and Marguerite ’til my dying days. And, honestly, their relationship is one of the most brutal that I’ve ever seen. Marguerite loves him even when he thinks she betrayed the St. Cyrs. And then (in the book, at least) he risked his life to save her (just like he does for others *sheds a single tear*), and it always makes me cry so many happy tears.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Sir Percy.”“This beholder is enchanted. If I were to tell you that I adore you, would you have me do so stintingly?”“Adore me?”“Or would you have me declare it as I feel it? With all my heart?”“But you can’t be serious – you know nothing about me!”“Exactly so. Which is why I yearn to know everything. You must tell me all about yourself, in every detail, but oh so slowly, so very slowly, so that it takes a very, very long time.”“I don’t know whether you’re mad or…”“Desperately in love? ‘Tis all the same.”

Remadora {Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks} | Harry Potter

This one’s a new one, too, but it’s impacted me just as much as the others. When we first meet Remus Lupin, he feels worthless and unlovable. Tonks thinks otherwise, and loves him despite what he is. He protests, but she loves him even more. Remus and Tonks’ love taught me that there will always be someone to love you, despite the circumstances and despite everything you think that’s wrong with you. *cries many tears*

“You see!” said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Lupin. “She still wants to marry him, even though he’s been bitten! She doesn’t care!” “It’s different,” said Lupin, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. “Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely-” “But I don’t care either, I don’t care!” said Tonks, seizing the front of Lupin’s robes and shaking them. “I’ve told you a million times….”And the meaning of Tonk’s Patronus and her mouse-colored hair, and the reason she had come running to find Dumbledore when she had heard a rumor someone had been attacked by Greyback, all suddenly became clear to Harry; it had not been Sirius that Tonks had fallen in love with after all.

Finally, to all of the above couples, here are some wise words of advice from Josh Dun.

I love so many of these couples!!! Flynn and Rapunzel, Anne and Gil, Laurie and Jo (although I do like her with Professor Bhaer as well…), Mr. Knightley and Emma, Steve and Peggy (I have yet to see the movie, but I already know I love them), Dimitri and Anastasia, Robin and Marian (have you seen the BBC tv series? It’s really good….but very, very feels-y) , George and Mary, and Percy and Marguerite. Yeah. Pretty much your whole list. 😛
Happy (late) Valentine’s Day!

SAME. (I ship Jo with both guys, too, lol. Just at different stages of her life.) YOU HAVEN’T SEEN CAPTAIN AMERICA?! OH GIRL. WATCH IT ASAP. (I’ve seen the first three or four episodes of the BBC Robin Hood and I love it!)

HA. Okay. : ) (I mean, I GET why she and Laurie couldn’t be together, but still.)

Because these were the movie couples who define what I want my relationship with my future husband to look like. I could go on and on and on about cute couples or perfect couples, but these are the couples I’ve grown up with (or have impacted me so much to warrant making the list) that have been the standard. I’m not planning on killing mutts or battling his hijacked mind like Peeta and Katniss (but they did make it on the Honorable Mentions list because I do love them very much).

ERMAGERD I’M CRYING BECAUSE CAP AND PEGGY THERE. ULTIMATE SHIP. <333 I can never ship Peggy with anyone else. I'm sorry for her, kinda? BUT I CAN'T. SHE AND CAPTAIN FOREVER. <33 *composes self slightly* Also this post gave me intense feels over Dimitri and Anastasia. I adore those two. That has to be one of my most favourite animated/cartoon movies eeeeeeep. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE TOGETHER. And so mean to each other. Also Russia. I so love Russia. Ahem. XD
THIS POST = SO MANY SHIPPY FEELS I LOVE IT.

Yes . . . I always get SOOOOOOOOOOO MAD at Anne Shirley too, when she refuses Gil. Because it wasn’t like she “didn’t love him,” she DID, but she just kind of ignored the feeling because she was so caught up in Roy Gardner. *shakes fist* But . . . yeah . . . when they DO get together at the end, it’s pretty feelsy.

Y’know, I have to say I don’t really ship Jo and Laurie. Never have. I think they’re too much alike–they have almost exactly the same faults and virtues and they can’t “balance each other out” the way spouses need to be able to. I’m much more of a Jo + Professor Bhaer shipper. (But that’s just me.)

Emma and Mr. Knightley are awwwwwwwwwwwwesome. That proposal scene is one of the most emotionally powerful moments in all Jane Austen’s novels. I still remember the first time I read it–I was about fourteen or so. I was like, “whaaaaaaaaaaaat just hit me.” Quite the experience. 😉

SAME OH MY GOSH. I love how they eventually got together, though, and their trials made them stronger. *sighs contentedly*

I know, I’m mostly alone in shipping Jo and Laurie. (It’s just cuz I relate to Jo so much and I FREAKING LOVE LAURIE, so I’ve always been like, “Girl. Stop. STAAAAAHHHHHHP.”) But I do understand that she needed things in a husband that Laurie didn’t have, and Prof Bhaer did, and she and Bhaer did end up being super cute, but I just opposed it initially. (And still always do, tbh.)

Thank you. Yes. Er. mah. gursh. Every time I watch the movie, I cry. Every. single. time. So many goals.

Yes . . . y’see, I have never been able to relate much to Jo or Laurie, so that may be part of why I see it differently 🙂

(I always related most to Beth, for some reason. I know that sounds horridly vain to say, but it’s true. I JUST LOVE BETH SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. Her death scene is about the only literary tragedy that has the power to make me really cry.)

I don’t remember if I thought Anne and Gil should end up together from the beginning. My mom first read it to me so. long. ago. But as I listen to the Anne books now (my current sewing audio books [after reading them I don’t know how many times]) I just want to tell her to stop holding out for “Prince Charming” and realize he’s been right there in front of her since she was eleven years old. I love their relationship. Though I also really, really like Emily and Teddy from Emily of New Moon, despite the misery due to misunderstanding and shyness in the last book.

Jo and Laurie should have been perfect. I’m not a big fan of Mr. Bhaer. Steve and Peggy. *sobs* That was so horrible. They seriously need a time machine. Marguerite and Percy! Sir Percy is so amazing.

Some of my favorites would be the Doctor and Rose (though he didn’t get her, and she got the half-human version of him), Arthur and Gwen (BBC Merlin), Jace and Kyrin (Ilyon Chronicles), Clara and Andrew (Rizkaland Legends), Reuben and Petra (also Rizkaland Legends), Kale and Bardon (DragonKeeper Chronicles), Anna and Kristoff (shouldn’t have to say where that’s from), Katniss and Peeta (for that either), and even though I don’t know if they end up together yet, I ship Andi and Elasson (Firmament Series by J. Grace Pennington). I could also add Cinder and Kai from The Lunar Chronicles as an honorable mention. Those are the ones I can think of right now off the top of my head. There are probably more. 😀

Aside from one or two couples I’m not familiar with, I love this list! Anne and Gilbert? Check. Anastasia and Dmitri? Check. Robin Hood and Marian? Check. Emma and Mr. Knightley? Check. Steve and Peggy? Check. These are all so good. 🙂

EXCEPT FOR JO AND LAURIE. *cough cough* They are my notp and I am firm defenders of the Jo/Professor and Laurie/Amy ships.

Talking about fictional couples is like MY FAVOURITE THING to do. So here goes. 😀

1. YES ABOUT ANNE AND GIL. Oh my goodness it just HURTS to see them NOT together. They just NEED TO BE TOGETHER. (I’m literally not enjoying Green Gables Fables at the moment. I really don’t like it.)
AND ANNE AND GILBERT IN THE BOOK. You must read Anne of the Island. Have you read it? You must. 😀

2. JO AND LAURIE. YESSSS. I have always moaned and moaned about the fact that they don’t end together. I am so not a Jo-Professor shipper. Jo and Laurie are just… just… A COUPLE. THEY MUST.

Some couples I would have included:
1. Elinor and Edward from the 08 S&S
2. Lizzy and Darcy from 95 P&P.
3. Matthew and Mary from Downton Abbey. (You have no idEA what you’re missing. You haven’t seen their love story.)
Oh, and I would have added Minnie and Alfie from Lark Rise, too. Have you seen Lark Rise to Candleford? Minnie and Alfie are basically THE CUTEST COUPLE IN THE WORLD OF COUPLES. I cannot watch them without dying. (I’m dead while writing this. :-P)

1) SAME. Every time I watch AoGG, I’m just like, “ANNE, YOU’RE SO STUPID! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT YOU AND GIL ARE *PERFECT* FOR ONE ANOTHER?!” Ugh, GGF. *facepalm* Every episode that Gil’s not in, I die a little inside. Tanner Gilman is the best.

2) THANK YOU.

3) YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS. So glad you agree with me. They’re my fave Austen couple because I relate to Emma so much and I want a guy like Knightley. ACTUAL GOALS, OKAY.

Truuuuuth! All of those couples are AMAZE. (Yeah, I knowwww. I told a mom friend of mine the other day about you guys HARASSING ME (jk) about not watching DA, and then SHE started nagging me about watching it! I’m definitely going to watch it at some point… soon…)

OOH YES I LOVE THEM SOOOOO MUCH!!!! I just haven’t seen LRtC in a while, so it didn’t immediately come to mind (and they didn’t shape my view of relationships, like these couples did, which was the awful limiting factor in who I could list. LOL).

OHHHHHHH
No no I totally know what shipping is (God knows the amount of ships that have sailed from the metaphorical sea of my mind). I guess after a full week of exams I was too mentally challented to understand what that ready to ship reference meant xD